


A night under the stars

by TheIcyQueen



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Bad Matchmaking, Banter, Camping, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Smooching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:47:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24895642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheIcyQueen/pseuds/TheIcyQueen
Summary: Nothing like a little romantic aside when you're all alone in a comfy little tent...in the middle of the woods...on top of a mountain...in the middle of the night. Boy, sure hope nothing spooky happens.
Relationships: Sam Giddings/Josh Washington
Comments: 10
Kudos: 57





	A night under the stars

**Author's Note:**

> Not EVERYTHING that happens in Blackwood has to be scary.
> 
> ...right?

“Spill it.”

“Spill what?”

“Josh.”

“Yeeeees?” He assumed a perfectly innocent expression as he turned around from zipping the tent flaps, smiling even as he saw the doubt written plain as day across Sam’s face.

She didn’t say anything at first, figuring she’d give him an opportunity to dig the hole even deeper…but when he just kept smiling that cheesy Boy Scout smile at her, she rolled her eyes. “I don’t know who you think you’re fooling with any of that, but I think we _both_ know you’re plotting something.”

He pretended to splutter out a series of insulted noises, “ _Plotting?_ _Me?!_ Honestly Sam, you wound me. Is that all I am to you? A scoundrel? A rapscallion? A scheming little—”

“Just tell me what it is _now_ so that I’m not disappointed in you _later_ , okay? Let’s just fast forward the tape on that and get it out of the way.” The fabric of the pop tent made a high-pitched squeak as she scooted forward on her knees. She grabbed one of the lanterns they’d been using earlier and held it up to his face as though she was an especially outdoorsy FBI agent trying to interrogate a suspect. “Chris and Ashley might not’ve noticed while they were swatting mosquitoes, but let me tell you something— _I_ noticed.”

Josh raised his eyebrows coolly. “You noticed nothing.”

Sam jammed the lantern closer to his face, actually bonking his jaw a little. “Oh. Ohoho. Oh no, no, see, you fighting me on this is only making me _more certain_ that you’re planning som—”

“Sam. Sammy. Samantha.” He set his hand atop the lantern and gently (oh, _so_ gently) pushed it down until it was out of his face. It was easier to lie when his retinas weren’t being scorched. “Do you really think I’d drag you guys out into the middle of the woods, hours away from society, and then do something _nefarious?_ ”

She blinked once, her expression unmoved.

“Maybe,” Josh continued, shrugging his shoulders in a bid to look nonchalant, “I just wanted to bring my bestest buds in the whole world out here to witness the splendor and the beauty that is Blackwood Pines. Maybe I thought it would be _fun_ if we had a little campout.” He paused for effect before shooting her the most charming look he could muster. “Is that a _crime?_ ”

Now, to his credit, the most charming look he could muster was, in fact, pretty damn charming. Exceptionally charming, really. But it was also his downfall—it cemented in her mind that he was going to pull something over on them, and getting spooked on top of a mountain, surrounded by nothing but woodlands full of wolves and bears and, and…raccoons, probably, wasn’t exactly her idea of a great time. “If you wanted us to enjoy the mountain’s scenery,” she began, incrementally narrowing her eyes with every word, “We would’ve stayed at the lodge.”

When he took a second too long to say anything, she dropped the lantern and clapped her hands together in vindication.

“I _knew it!_ ”

“You know nothing, Jon Snow. Listen.” 

“You’re gonna scare us, aren’t you?!”

“I said _listen_.”

“You brought us all the way out to the freaking guest cabin to _scare us?_ You knew we’d be tired! Oh, you are such a weasely little—”

Joshua Washington was a man who knew when he’d been beat. Usually he pushed that knowledge to the side, played a game of hide-and-seek with it until he could pretend it away, but just then he thought he was willing to make an exception. “I knew _Cochise_ and _Ash_ would be tired,” he said slowly.

And that…that didn’t quite address what she’d been talking about. Though she suspected that was just another one of his tricks to get her off his scent, she went quiet, cocking her head to the side expectantly as she waved him on to continue.

He watched her for a moment before rolling his eyes. Leaning back towards the front of the tent, he carefully unzipped one of the smaller meshed-in flaps meant to be a window. He scooted to the side _just_ enough that Sam could see the silhouette of the guest cabin out front, though with the sky being almost pitch-black, it was little more than a dark outline against the stars, a couple tiny squares of orange light standing out in the windows.

Turning around again, Josh waved towards the sight as though he was the lovely assistant of a game show bringing the audience’s attention to a sixteen-piece dinette set. “I knew,” he began once more, speaking with the cadence of Sherlock Holmes explaining why the butler couldn’t have possibly been the murderer, “That after that hike, those two nerds would be _beat_. I _also_ knew that if we kept them up long enough with, say, maybe a campfire and a few rounds of s’mores, they’d be so fucking sick and tired of the bugs and sweat that they’d _completely_ pussy out on the whole sleeping-under-the-stars part of the deal and go running into the guest cabin to sleep.”

Sam folded her arms across her chest as she listened, drumming her fingers against her sleeve. “I’m following you so far.”

“Oh, I’m so glad to hear that, Sammy.”

She stuck her tongue out at him.

“But _mostly_ ,” Josh said, zipping the window shut so they were once again cut off from the rest of the world in their little blue nylon tent, “I knew if said campfire involved a few of my more…well, let’s just be honest with ourselves here… _masterful_ ghost stories…”

There was no describing how loudly she snorted at that, rolling her eyes so hard she was fairly surprised they didn’t pop right out of her head. “Oh yeah, _masterful_.”

“False modesty is half the sin of pride, Sammy.”

“Is _that_ what you tell yourself?” 

He reached over and ruffled her hair so it fell into her face, ignoring her protests even as she tried to wrestle him away. “As I was _saying!_ I knew if I pulled out the top-shelf Tales from the Crypt, eventually—and you’re gonna love this part, Sammy—eventually Ash would get so spooked that she’d _refuse_ to be _anywhere_ up here alone.”

By the time she managed to push his hand away, her hair was a mess of unfortunate cowlicks and fly-aways. She tried to smooth it all back down, but it was immediately clear that was going to be a losing battle. “I don’t see your point. Are you expecting me to like, help you jump out and scare them, or…?”

Josh groaned loudly and flopped onto one of the unrolled sleeping bags with a dramatic sigh. “You really think I’m a one-trick pony, huh? Is that what I’m getting from this? You think the only thing I’m capable of is scaring people? For your information, _Samantha_ , I have a very wide array of skills that include, but are not limited to, let’s see, uh: cooking omelets,” he began ticking each one off on his fingers, “Putting USB cables in the right way on the first try, doing handstands, losing my car keys, remembering obscure trivia about late 90’s Nickelodeon cartoons, dry-swallowing pi—”

She joined him on the floor of the tent, laying on one side with her head propped up on one hand and her other covering his mouth. “Please get to the point.”

With his face covered as it was, all he could do was quirk a mischievous eyebrow at her. When she pulled her hand away he snickered. “Aw c’mon, it’s no fun if I gotta spell it out,” he joked. “But fine, _fiiine_. Since you’ve forced my hand…” He laced his fingers behind his head in a makeshift pillow, wriggling this way and that to try and find a somewhat comfortable position; the sleeping bag under him was fine, but the ground underneath the tent itself left something to be desired. “The guest cabin only has one bed.”

Crickets.

Like, literal crickets.

Sam didn’t respond at first, letting that unassuming factoid stew in her brain for a second as the crickets and the night birds outside made their quiet music. Then, slowly, she felt her own grin start to creep its way across her face, not half as devious as Josh’s (obviously), but just as gleeful. “Are you…kidding me? Are you _kidding me?_ ”

He beamed. “I am not.”

“You did—oh my God. I knew there had to be a reason _you_ , like of all people, would _willingly_ hike with all this camping gear, and…it was all—”

“To make them live out the real-life fanfiction we’ve all been dreaming for them. Yes. I’ll accept my award for Best Director now, thank you, thank you. Best Producer too? Oh, you shouldn’t have…”

She laughed, giving him a good-natured shove as he pretended to wave and blow kisses to his adoring fans, waiting a good ten seconds to burst his bubble. “But uh…isn’t there a couch in there?”

Josh stopped mid-pageant-winner-wave, eyes going wide and thoughtful in the lantern’s light. “… _fuck_.” 

She couldn’t help it—she snorted again, harder than before. 

“No, I…no, okay, hang on, no, this…this is still salvageable!” He propped himself up on one arm in much the same way she had, gesturing vaguely with his other hand. “That couch is absolutely prehistoric, I’m talking Flintstones-era. I’m pretty sure there are chips lost in those cushions that are older than me. Even if one of them does the whole shy, embarrassed bullshit, they won’t last five minutes on that rickety piece of shit.”

“You don’t think?”

“No way. Five minutes _tops_. Then it’s all ‘Um, uh, s-sorry if this is weird, but…could I maybe, um…stay in here tonight? W-with you, I mean?’” 

“Was that supposed to be Chris or Ash just then?”

“You couldn’t tell?”

Sam leveled her gaze at him. “I can _never_ tell.”

He pulled a face at that, widening his eyes and letting his jaw fall open, pressing the hand he’d been gesturing with to his heart. “How… _dare_ you.”

“Uh huh. Well. Now that that’s all out in the open…” Sam let her head dip a bit to the side while she sized him up, “Any _other_ underhanded plots you’ve been keeping quiet?”

“Underhanded? Absolutely not.” 

Did he actually think he was slick? Unfortunately, she had a pretty good idea of the answer to that.

“ _Really_ ,” she drawled, reaching over and turning the lamp off, the button making a satisfyingly solid _click_ as she did so. “You had absolutely _zero_ ulterior motives? This incredibly convoluted plan was _just_ an excuse to poke fun at Chris and Ashley?”

“I’ve done much more convoluted shit for lesser reasons, Sammy.”

Well, he had her there. That much, at least, was true.

She hummed a low reply to that, her grin slanting into something a little bit different once her eyes adjusted to the low, low light the stars and moon gave them through the tent. “Riiight. And it had absolutely, positively _nothing_ to do with getting me alone?”

Josh feigned insult for the hundredth time that night, and nothing about it was even vaguely convincing that time around. “I would _never_.”

“Oh no?”

“Nonono.” There was another one of those high-pitched squeaks as one of them (or maybe it was both) moved that much closer in the dark, guided more by each other’s voices than by their outlines. “Now, is it a welcome side-effect of my genius plan? Sure. Sure, I can admit that much. A very, _very_ wel—”

Sam was kissing him before he could get any deeper into his self-aggrandizing, her hands fumbling around in the dark until she managed to pull him down onto the flattened sleeping bags with her. It seemed she’d stumbled upon the _one_ thing he’d rather do than pat himself on the back, and she made a very careful note of that for, y’know, the next time he started up.

He was more than happy to let her drag him down, one of his hands finding the curve of her jaw to tip her head back just slightly, just a bit, teasingly nipping at her lower lip before flicking his tongue across it, deepening the kiss into something more.

Sliding her fingers up to angle in his hair, Sam pressed herself closer, feeling the sleeping bags stick to her skin, and—

_BANG!_

They froze like deer caught in headlights, both abruptly turning towards the source of the sound. Its echoes tore through the mountain air, doubling and trebling to sound like furious applause before dropping off.

For a second she was terrified…and then she groaned, shoving Josh off of her. “You putz! You _were_ going to scare us!”

“I, uh…” Josh frowned, feeling around the tent for the lantern or either of their phones, anything to give them more light. “I know you’re not gonna believe me on this one, Sammy, but that…wasn’t me.”

And shit, he sounded _just_ uncertain enough that she believed him. “Well then what _was_ that?” she hissed, having much less trouble finding the lantern than he had. Her mind swam with images of hunters, of bears crashing through underbrush, of the goddamn stupid ghost story about the flesh-eating monsters Josh had told them about over the fire…and then she heard the footsteps.

They both heard them—quiet at first, then growing louder and louder, more frantic, footsteps beating against the grass outside as they came closer to the tent, absolutely _barreling_ towards them, and then something solid smacked into the front of the tent, pushing it inwards.

It was a toss-up which one of them yelled louder, honestly. Real close call.

A second later, the zipper to the tent positively flew downwards, a figure tumbling into the lantern light with them.

“Jesus tap-dancing Christ in a birchbark _canoe_ , holy _fuck!_ ” Chris scrambled into the tent, tucking himself against one of the corners.

Not even a moment after that, Ashley tumbled in behind him, scrambling to zip the front flap shut. “Geez Louise! That was… _augh!_ ” She turned to Sam and Josh, eyes so wide they seemed to take up half her face, “There’s a frigging _bat_ in the cabin!”

“Fuck that, that was _not_ a bat,” Chris cut in, “That was fucking Bat _man_ , that’s what that was. Thing was big enough to eat a _schnauzer_ , what the fuck! What the _fuck!_ ”

Sam and Josh stared at them for a long moment, both very clearly trying to keep their hearts from exploding.

“I… _what?_ ” Sam finally managed.

“A _bat!_ ” Ashley repeated, shuddering all over before sliding into one of the open sleeping bags. “Ew. Ewewewewew. I hate this. I hate this so much. This is why I don’t _do_ camping trips. Just…what if it had _rabies?!_ ”

“Yeah, fuck that noise. I’m not looking to get a bunch of shots in my belly because Count Chocula back there decided to get frisky.” He shuddered just as Ash had, settling himself against the opposite wall of the tent.

“Well we’re, uh,” Sam cleared her throat and did her best to smooth her hair down. “We’re glad you guys are…okay.”

“Yeah,” Josh agreed, his voice flat, “Stoked.”

The two of them exchanged a look before shrugging, Sam turning the lantern off once more so they could at least make an attempt at sleep.

“I mean honestly, it’s probably for the best,” Chris said once they’d all scrunched themselves in, “Did you guys know there’s only one bed in there? That would’ve been _crazy_ awkward.”

Silence from the guys’ side of the tent. Then a muted _thump!_ followed by an ‘ _Ow!_ ’

Sam had to press her hands to her mouth to keep from laughing out loud.

**Author's Note:**

> All this month, I'm taking part of a writing challenge with a few of my writing buds, where we all try to write a drabble a day! I'm posting ALL of my daily drabbles on tumblr (queenofbaws) in the "Queenie writes challenge stuff" tag, but I'm trying to cherrypick a handful to put up here on AO3 too every few days. 
> 
> Hope you're all hanging in there and staying safe, healthy, and well! <3


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